A look back at popular child stars since 1919
Using movie databases, film histories, celebrity biographies and digital archives, here's a list of popular pint-sized actors from 1919 through 2021.
Popular child stars from the year you were born
Child stars—whether gifted with a dimpled grin, soulful eyes, a contagious personality, or stellar acting chops—have captivated the public imagination since the invention of celluloid. From Depression-era darling Shirley Temple to the infectiously adorable Macaulay Culkin of “Home Alone” fame, these talented tykes routinely deliver box office gold, and they are some of Hollywood's most important players. They appear to lead charmed lives, graced with fortune, fame, and adoring fans. For some, success is full of adventure and limitless opportunity—but for many, fame brings punishing schedules, addiction, abuse, and emotional breakdowns.
Stacker sifted through movie databases, film histories, celebrity biographies, and digital archives to compile this list of popular pint-sized actors from 1919 through 2021.
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1922: Coy Watson, Jr.
Coy Watson was born into a hardworking Hollywood family. His father, Coy Watson Sr., was a local cowboy who made a name for himself in early Westerns. Coy Jr. and his eight siblings followed their father into the business, with Coy Jr. earning the name “The Keystone Kid” for his numerous appearances in Sennett Studios' popular “Keystone Cops” series. Watson didn't make the transition to “talkies,” but he did forge a successful career as a photojournalist.
1924: Virginia Davis
Virginia Davis, Walt Disney's first silver screen star, shot to fame playing a character called Alice in a series of shorts inspired by Lewis Carroll's “Alice in Wonderland.” Predating Mickey Mouse by almost a decade, the spritely Davis propelled the young Disney out of bankruptcy in the early 1920s and went on to make over a dozen shorts in which she interacted with cartoon images.
1941: Johnny Sheffield
California native Johnny Sheffield, the son of a British former child actor, made his acting debut on the Los Angeles stage but soon transitioned to film. Handpicked by Johnny Weissmuller of the popular Tarzan series, Sheffield played “Boy” in seven of those films. After Tarzan, he starred as jungle boy “Bomba” in the eponymous series. Sheffield left the business in his early twenties, opting instead for a business degree from UCLA.
1949: Tommy Ivo
Drag racing king Tommy Ivo's acting career began when he was just a kid and continued into adulthood—spanning almost 100 movies and over 200 TV shows, including “The Donna Reed Show,” “My Three Sons,” and “Leave it to Beaver.” Ivo's interest in cars and racing started in his teens, and he became the first drag racer to complete the quarter-mile in under six seconds.
1954: Sherry Jackson
Sherry Jackson made her first film appearance when she was 8 years old, and in 1953 landed the plum role of Terry, Danny Thomas's daughter in the enormously popular television series “Make Room for Daddy.” Jackson continued to act into adulthood, appearing in a variety of guest TV roles prior to her retirement at the age of 40.
1957: Annette Funicello
Sweet-natured Mouseketeer Annette Funicello was the final cast member chosen for Disney's TV sensation “The Mickey Mouse Club,” and was the only member offered a contract by the studio after the show ended. Funicello subsequently starred with heartthrob Frankie Avalon in a series of popular beach party movies in the 1960s. With the exception of her popular Skippy peanut butter commercials, Funicello retired from the entertainment world after getting married at the age of 22. Stricken with multiple sclerosis in the 1980s, Funicello died in 2013 from complications of the disease.
1966: Lisa Loring
Lisa Loring played humorless Wednesday, the goth daughter of Gomez and Morticia Addams, on the macabre sitcom “The Addams Family.” Just 6 years old when the show first aired in 1964, Loring was a married mother just a decade later and on the road to a long battle with heroin addiction. Loring entered rehab in the 1990s and has kept a low profile ever since.
1969: Johnny Whitaker
Carrot top cutie Johnny Whitaker got his first big break as little Jody Davis on the 1960s sitcom “Family Affair.” In 1973, he was cast as Tom Sawyer in a screen adaptation of Mark Twain's American classic. At 14, Whitaker helmed his own Saturday morning show, “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.” After graduation from Brigham Young University, Whitaker failed to rekindle his acting career and battled drug and alcohol addiction for decades. Whitaker got sober in the 1990s and has been a vocal advocate for prison reform.
1973: Tatum O'Neal
Unlike most kids starting out in the business, Tatum O'Neal got to skip the endless commercial auditions and bit parts on TV and went straight for Best Supporting Actress honors. The daughter of actor Ryan O'Neal, 10-year-old Tatum was cast as his sidekick—hardboiled hooligan Addie Loggins—in the 1973 film “Paper Moon." She won an Oscar for her performance, making her the youngest actor to win a competitive Academy Award. When she signed on to the cast of the 1976 comedy “The Bad News Bears,” O'Neal was the highest paid child star in the industry. Her childhood, however, was less than ideal. Both her parents struggled with drugs and alcohol, and the young actress was frequently left to fend for herself.
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1975: Kim Richards
Disney Darling Kim Richards got her big break as adorable Prudence on the 1970s series “Nanny and the Professor,” and shot to stardom in a slew of family-friendly films including the enormously popular “Escape to Witch Mountain.” Richards made her first commercial at just 4 months old and served as her family's primary breadwinner throughout her childhood. Burned out, Richards bowed out of the entertainment industry in early adulthood to concentrate on raising her children, but she lit up television screens once again in 2010, when she joined the cast of the hit reality show “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
1980: Gary Coleman
Kidney disease capped Gary Coleman's growth at a just 4'8,” but lack of stature didn't prevent him from becoming one of the most recognizable television talents of the 1970s. Famous for his catchphrase (“What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?”), Coleman charmed audiences as the adopted son of wealthy Upper East Sider Philip Drummond on “Diff'rent Strokes.” After the show ended, Coleman had trouble landing new gigs and discovered that his parents had raided his trust fund, which had dwindled from nearly $18 million to a scant $220,000. Coleman died in 2010 at the age of 42.
1983: Ricky Shroder
Ricky Shroder won a Golden Globe when he was just 10 years old for his performance in the 1979 remake of the tear-jerker boxing flick “The Champ.” A few years later, the tow-headed tyke scored his own sitcom, “Silver Spoons,” which ran for five seasons. Shroder continued to work in film and television as an adult and appeared on the hit TV series “NYPD Blue” as Detective Danny Sorenson from 1998 to 2001. In 2004, Shroder ventured behind the camera, writing and producing the boxing drama “Black Cloud.”
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1984: Emmanuel Lewis
The 1980s sitcom “Webster” starred diminutive Emmanuel Lewis. After his appearance in a Burger King commercial, Lewis nabbed the role of 6-year-old orphan Webster Long—although Lewis was actually twelve at the time. Now in his forties, Lewis manages his own record label, Flex Floss Entertainment.
1987: Soleil Moon Frye
The 1980s sitcom “Punky Brewster” employed the familiar trope of a feisty orphan adopted by an empathetic adult. Little Soleil Moon Frye was tapped for the lead, and the series ran for four years. Today, mother-of-four Frye is the author of two books on parenting and the proprietor of an eco-friendly children's store.
1990: Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Culkin rocketed to stardom in the 1990 blockbuster “Home Alone.” Culkin grew up in an unorthodox household on New York City's Upper West Side, sharing a four bedroom apartment with his parents and seven siblings. He got his first big break when director John Hughes cast him in the 1989 comedy “Uncle Buck.” Culkin became the highest paid child actor in history, earning a cool $4.5 million for reprising the role of Kevin in “Home Alone 2.” Professional success, however, couldn't compensate for his dysfunctional homelife. His parents' bitter divorce placed Culkin and his fortune at the forefront, forcing the young actor to sue for emancipation.
1995: Sarah Gilbert
Sarah Gilbert got her big break playing wisecracking middle sister Darlene on the 1980s blue collar sitcom “Roseanne,” a role which earned the young actress two Emmy Awards. Gilbert made a handful of films, including “Poison Ivy” and “Riding in Cars With Boys,” before co-hosting the TV show “The Talk” in 2010. She is currently reprising the role of Darlene in the Roseanne reboot “The Conners.”
1999: Lindsay Lohan
For better and for worse, Lindsay Lohan has been making headlines since 1998, when she made her film debut in Disney's remake of “The Parent Trap.” A child model with more than 60 commercials under her belt, Lohan was one of Hollywood's most up-and-coming young actresses by the time she starred in “Freaky Friday” with Jamie Lee Curtis in 2003. Lohan's 2004 blockbuster “Mean Girls” achieved iconic status, cementing Lohan's star power. A few years later, however, things began to take a turn for the worse. Her dysfunctional family had always been a source of stress, and in 2007 Lohan was arrested for cocaine possession and a hit-and-run. In 2019, Lohan launched the reality show “Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club” on MTV.
2004: Michael Cera
Canadian actor Michael Cera first impressed American audiences as awkward teen George Michael Bluth on the quirky comedy series “Arrested Development.” After the show's first run came to an end, Cera teamed up with Jonah Hill in the bawdy, blockbuster teen comedy “Superbad.” More film roles followed, as did two more incarnations of “Arrested Development.” In 2014, Cera made his Broadway debut in the Kenneth Lonergan play “This is Our Youth.”
2012: Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter, another “Modern Family” veteran, had just started in the business when she was cast as smartypants middle child Alex Dunphy. Winter has collected four SAG awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series during her 10 years on the show, but her personal life hasn't always been as rosy. Winter was removed from her abusive mother's home in 2012 and placed in the custody of her older sister.
2016: Millie Bobby Brown
Pint-sized fashionista Millie Bobby Brown burst onto television screens as the mysterious Eleven on the hit sci-fi series “Stranger Things.” In 2017, the 13-year-old British breakout star was selected to represent Calvin Klein's new brand, By Appointment.
2021: Marsai Martin
Audiences have watched Marsai Martin grow up as Diane Johnson on ABC’s comedy series “Black-ish” since 2014. Martin also starred in the 2019 film “Little,” featuring Regina Hall and Issa Rae. The young actress, born in 2014, has already won nine NAACP Image Awards, for her work in the aforementioned titles.
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1957: Annette Funicello
Sweet-natured Mouseketeer Annette Funicello was the final cast member chosen for Disney's TV sensation “The Mickey Mouse Club,” and was the only member offered a contract by the studio after the show ended. Funicello subsequently starred with heartthrob Frankie Avalon in a series of popular beach party movies in the 1960s. With the exception of her popular Skippy peanut butter commercials, Funicello retired from the entertainment world after getting married at the age of 22. Stricken with multiple sclerosis in the 1980s, Funicello died in 2013 from complications of the disease.
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